by jaccilynn 11 Replies latest social entertainment
My friends and I started collecting these little figures from the quater machines in the grocery store called homies... just wondering if anyone else has these in their supermarkets/drug stores... they are so funny... little guys drinking 40's, holding skateboards. they're great. check them out...
I have almost the whole collection. The only one I don't have and really want is Willy G, the wheelchair homie. lol.
You have to admitt, these things are cool.
In my homie-speak voice:
I ain't neva heard of these thangs. Where you gettum from?
Oops! I just read in your thread wher to get them from.
However, I still ain't never seenum anywhere before.
I have a couple of them! There pretty cool. My favorite is JOKER!
These little "toys" glamorize the gang lifestyle that is prevelent in Latin-American communities.
Personally, I think they are disgusting, and do not allow my children to have them.
They see enough crap on TV, I don't think they need crap "toys."
IMHO
I'm with Big Dawg on this but since I don't have any children to worry about I find them hilarious!
The names crack me up: Chuca, Chato, Cochino, Flaco,Topo! BAAAWAAAAAHHH!!!
Makes me want to say "Simon Ese!"... hehe
These little "toys" glamorize the gang lifestyle that is prevelent in Latin-American communities.
I agree. I work with children (high school) in gangs all the time. It is very sad (the lifestyle and what it leads to) and it destroys futures and lives.
My 10 year old son brought a Homie toy home and the first thing I thought was, this is a gang toy for little kids! To me it is like advertising cigarettes to kids! Its like Joe Camel: really cool looking and likeable, but do you want your kid playing with a Joe Camel toy? Wearing a Joe Camel shirt? Thinking Joe Camel is cool?
I went to the Homie web site and read on there about how the Homies have nothing to do with gangs and people shouldnt judge others based on the clothes they wear and the cars they drive, etc.
After reading that part of the web site, I started to feel badlike maybe I jumped to conclusions.
But then I kept reading the web siteand looking at the art section (some great stuff there, btw) .but I found gang signs and symbols. Then I realized I had been fooled again. I knew when I first saw them these toys were about gangsI should have trusted my instincts.
Street gangs, like all cults dangerous high control groups, are often dishonest with the outside world.
I showed my son some web sites for former gang members. I read him some of their stories, pointed out how they are called homies. I pointed out how the real life former gang members have cute nic names, just like the toys and some were in wheel chairs... from being shot. I told him many of the kids he goes to school with have older brothers and sisters in gangs. And that one day, he may be asked to join a gang. Or one of his friends may join a gang. suddenly he doesnt think the Homie toys are so cool any more.
If you knew the kids I work with, you wouldn't think these toys were cool, either.
I wish they were not gang related, but they are. They could have been a repesentation of Hispanic culture without the gang references. That would be really cool.
-LisaBObeesa
I don't know where my periods and spaces go when I make a post!
Edited by - LisaBOBeesa on 24 July 2002 17:14:48
Thank you Lisa.
As a parent I wouldn't let me children play with these. However if I was not a parent I would still have serious issues with these "toys."
1. The negative stereotypes of the Latino culture. Imagine the hue and cry if these "toys" were of steotypical blacks?
2. No a person should not be catagorized by his/her dress. Unfortunately, the style of dress portrayed by these "toys" has a message. "Gangs are cool."
3. In my early Christian days, I was art of a church that dealt with the latino gang (specifically in East Los Angeles, CA). When I should a picture of these "toys" to one former member of the Mexican Mafia, he said, "How can anyone, in good conscience, claim that these toys do not make gang life look good?" Now this person was not a mere soldier, but on of the founding members of the Mexican Mafia, otherwise known as La Eme (The M).
Ok, I will agree on the fact that maybe these "homies" are not the best toys for children to play with after reading the last two posts. But I am not a child and neither are the friends of mine that collect these.
I never even connected homies with gangs... untill I read what big dawg and lisa said... i saw them as toys jesting about the hip-hop style that is so popular in our society today. i never looked at the toys and said, "oh look! they're latin american!" let alone latin american gangsters.
i thought they were unusual and funny, and that's why i collect them.
source magazine did an article on the creator of homies a year or so ago. I thought they looked interesting and I thought that if I ever ran across some I would buy them (I collect toys and comic books and that sort of thing). I can underestand why people with children would have a problem with them. and I can also see how some would view them as bad sterotypes or caricatures. but I guess I dont take offense because the creator is from that culture and community. if I recall correctly, a few of the homies are based on some of his friends. if a person can not criticize or comment on his own culture and community, who can? dont get me wrong, I am not advocating the gang lifestyle. to me, that lifestyle, while it makes for good storytelling, is one born out of desperate need and is predicated on violence and raw capitalism. it is not something I would want anyone trapped into. but someone doing something creative within that environment I think is something that needs to be supported.
will
